Roman Baths

Roman people didn't usually have hot baths in their houses, because it was too hard to heat up the water. And people who lived in cities had to live in small apartments

Often a whole family in one room, and so they didn't have room for baths or any yard to exercise in. So instead they used to go to public baths.

Public baths were something like our community centers today, or like a health club. They had swimming pools fed by aqueducts, and hot tubs, and exercise equipment, and often gardens and libraries and theaters as well.

Some of them had temples, like the Mithraeum in the Baths of Caracalla. Like community centers, you had to pay a small fee to get in, but they sometimes also had free days.

But unlike most community centers today, Roman baths were made to be really impressive, beautiful buildings. They had high, vaulted ceilings, and the walls were decorated with marble and frescoes. The floors had complicated mosaics.

Pretty much any town in the Roman Empire had at least one bath building, and many had more than one. Army camps had them, too. But of course the biggest, fanciest ones were in the city of Rome.

An example of a public bath building that is now in good condition is the Caracalla Baths, in Rome (built at the beginning of 200 AD).

ACTIVITIES

1. Answer the questions.

Did the Roman have a bath in their houses?How was a Roman house?Did the Roman had to pay to get into the Roman Bath?How was the water taken from?What kind of decoration had the Roman Bath?

2. Complete the sentence: (LISTENING)

Public baths were something like our ....................today, or like a ......................They had .................fed by .................., and hot tubs, and .................... equipment, and often ................... and ................. and ..................as well.

3. Match it:

• Apartment • Mithraeum • Health• Preserve• Heat up

• Conservar• Salud • Temple, place where

people could pray in the bath

• Calentar• Place where a Roman

family lived in the cities.

3. Match it:• Apartment • Mithraeum • Health• Preserve• Heat up

• Conservar• Salud • Temple, place where

people could pray in the bath

• Calentar• Place where a Roman

family lived in the cities.

4. Imagine that you got a time machine and you back to the Roman Age. Write how will you spend a day in a Roman bath. (WRITING)

5. Now that you know more about the Roman Bath, experience it: